Sugawara Kuniyoshi
Productions Sunset - France - PS 65166
1996

Track	Title	Kanji	Length	Artist
1	Ugetsufu	雨月譜	12'24	Shakuhachi: Sugawara Kuniyoshi Koto: Kuribayashi Hideaki
	In 1980, composer Yoshimatsu and Sugawara were members of an odd group which combined jazz and traditional Japanese music. This work, written for and premiered by Sugawara, is one of Yoshimatsu's first compositions. Rather than a work which is scored in the conventional manner, there are four sheets of music, one for each season of the year. The form develops freely as each performer realizes his or her own individual part. The parts sound together, but with an improvisatory feeling. Ugetsufu means Rain and Moon Music. The composer chose this title to lyrically represent the bringing together of traditional Japanese instruments in a purely Western-style ensemble.
2	Kaei	花影	10'19	Shakuhachi: Sugawara Kuniyoshi Koto: Izumiyama Shoko
	Hoki was encouraged to write this, his second work for traditional Japanese instruments, by his friends Kuniyoshi Sugawara and his wife Shoko Izumiyama. It was premiered by the pair in Sapporo in 1985. The form is a variation etude which blends Japanese and Western styles. It is based on the duplicity of the seen and the unseen sorrows of human beings, and while one persistent motif is unceasingly repeated, anguish and joy appear in various forms. The title has no specific meaning, rather it is just one way of trying to grasp the meaning of the music.
3	Kotoba no Yoru	言葉の夜	08'00	Shakuhachi: Sugawara Kuniyoshi
	The shakuhachi is an extremely refined instrument which as yet is still comparatively unknown. It is particularly difficult to find a substitute for the profoundness of the five-holed shakuhachi. As a specialist in Arabic music, I wanted to create something which only I was capable of composing for the shakuhachi, works with the subtleties of the traditional theoretical Arabic melodic patterns called maqam. This work combines these maqam with traditional shakuhachi techniques. - Jun Chikuma
4	Renzan	連山	11'24	Shakuhachi: Sugawara Kuniyoshi Shakuhachi: Tanabe Retsuzan
	This work was written for composer Sawai's brother, distinguished shakuhachi player Sanzan Sawai, who passed away at a young age. Tadao Sawai is one of the preeminent Japanese koto players and at the same time the composer of some the greatest works for traditional instruments. However this duet for two shakuhachi, RENZAN, is his only work which does not include koto or shamisen. This is only the second performance of the work composed around 1970. It has disappeared from the list of Sawai's compositions and has become somewhat of a "phantom" work. Even the details surrounding that sole performance have been lost. I received the score some time ago and have been looking for an opportunity to perform it. With the cooperation of the composer that dream has become reality on this CD - Kuniyoshi Sugawara
5	Kata Ashi Torii No Eizo	片足鳥居の映像	03'51	Shakuhachi: Sugawara Kuniyoshi
	If you climb up some stone steps in the Sakamotomachi (Nagasaki), you will find a torii gate (a two-legged arch at the entrance to Shinto shrines) with only one leg. I'm not certain what time it was exactly the first time I saw it, but I'll never forget how I stood rooted to the spot, staring in utter amazement as I considered what brought about that empty space and the mechanics of the balance of the structure. In 1970 when I was asked by the famous Kohachiro Miyata to write an unaccompanied shakuhachi solo for him, the image of that torii gate somehow attached itself to that request. Looking back, it seems to have been a mysterious connection. Without a doubt, this one-legged torii gate was created by the atomic bomb which was dropped on Nagasaki. The anger and tragedy of those victims of long ago are enveloped in this music. - Toshinao Sato
6	Kata Ashi Torii No Eizo	片足鳥居の映像	04'29	Shakuhachi: Sugawara Kuniyoshi
7	Kata Ashi Torii No Eizo	片足鳥居の映像	04'50	Shakuhachi: Sugawara Kuniyoshi
8	Kata Ashi Torii No Eizo	片足鳥居の映像	04'06	Shakuhachi: Sugawara Kuniyoshi
9	Nihon Minyo Kumikyoku Dai Ichiban	日本民謡組曲第一番	03'01	Shakuhachi: Sugawara Kuniyoshi Koto: Izumiyama Shoko Koto: Nishi Yōko Koto: Kawamura Masako
	This work is based on five well known Japanese folk songs. Yasaburo Bushi, from Aomori is a children's counting song which has made its way into the adult world and is loved by people of all ages. Itsuki Lullaby, from Kumamoto, is known throughout Japan, and in this suite the shakuhachi carries the compassionate melody. The mood brightens for the up-tempo Tsugaru Jongara Bushi, from Aomori. Sendo Uta (Song of the ferryman), from Hiroshima, paints a picture of the beautiful Seto inland sea. The suite concludes with the famous Fools Dance, the Awa Odori, from Tokushima.
10	Nihon Minyo Kumikyoku Dai Ichiban	日本民謡組曲第一番	02'43	Shakuhachi: Sugawara Kuniyoshi
11	Nihon Minyo Kumikyoku Dai Ichiban	日本民謡組曲第一番	02'36	Shakuhachi: Sugawara Kuniyoshi
12	Nihon Minyo Kumikyoku Dai Ichiban	日本民謡組曲第一番	03'26	Shakuhachi: Sugawara Kuniyoshi
13	Nihon Minyo Kumikyoku Dai Ichiban	日本民謡組曲第一番	02'41	Shakuhachi: Sugawara Kuniyoshi